Called Out In The Dark
by Jugband Arnold
Summary: Slightly off the storyline shown. Set in S4 for now. I have no idea where this is heading. I don't own the characters or Rookie Blue. Just the idea. Let me assure you all no matter where this goes - Gail and Holly will always be endgame for me.
1. This is how it begins

Gail Peck was not a lesbian. Gail Peck could _not_ be a lesbian. However Gail had a bit of a problem. She found herself slowly drawn to the enigma that was Holly Stewart. The forensic pathologist had definitely left an indelible mark on the blonde police officer. Very few people got through to her - but Holly simply barged her way into Gail's life - and Gail surprised herself at how comfortable she was with the doctor. Holly had this air of nonchalance about Gail's snarky ways - which had stunned Gail quite a bit. Gail Peck's wall wasn't just hard - it was icy, cold, bitter and spiked with shards - and seeing that Holly had literally found some hidden door in that wall and walked right through petrified Gail and comforted her at the same time.  
"Holly, I'm like a cat."  
This was Gail's attempt at distancing Holly and letting her in at the same time. _Now that you're here - you better know this about me. Better run out while you can, Lunchbox._  
But Holly didn't care. Not one bit. And that was what petrified Gail most of all. But Gail tried to make the best of the situation. At least she now had a friend who didn't reply with sardonic comments, who didn't view her primarily as a stoic robot who didn't have feelings. So she decided to use her new found friendship at the wedding.  
What Gail wasn't expecting was that slow, soft kiss on her lips. She told herself it was drunken misjudgment on Holly's part - but Gail could not help how she was feeling. For the first time - Gail found herself without a snide remark to come back with, without a rude comment to hurl back and for once - as cheesy as it sounded - Gail found herself defeated by a kiss.  
She had found herself all alone in a coat room closet after that(she found that a bit ironic), questioning the very existence of this unbelievable woman who had charged into her life and managed to leave her, _Gail Peck_ lost for words.  
Now, here she stood staring at her phone - Traci's words still ringing in her mind. 'Everyone deserves to be happy Gail, even you.'  
After a moment of contemplation - Gail threw all caution to the wind and dialed someone she knew would somehow cheer her up - either with completely perplexing and awkward scientific facts or with her ability to walk right through Gail's high walls and turn the rest of the day better.  
Gail was in for another surprise when Holly had suggested the batting cages. Gail knew she was no great-athlete. She was a fit police officer who could steadfastly aim a gun at a criminal and she felt that was sufficient enough for her to be a proficient cop. Hitting balls with bats ranked very low Gail's list of life skills required to survive.  
"I expected a police officer to put up a better fight than that."  
"Shut up, Lunchbox. It's not like swinging a bat at a ball is going to help me catch criminals any better."  
"Studies have shown that…"  
Gail turned to stare at Holly who seemed to be caught up in the middle of an apparently interesting factoid about arm-eye coordination and the like - but Gail was too distracted in observing Holly and she felt the need to tune her out in order to take a good look at Holly.  
A lot of things raced through Gail's mind as she stared at Holly - who was gesturing wildly with her hands and explaining various statistics. Gail couldn't help but notice the way Holly scrunched up her face while defending her opinion. She loved the way the doctor had this habit of spewing out umpteen facts in one breath and the way the doctor's grin was lopsided to one side - which she noticed each time the doctor paused between her statements to catch her breath. She also noticed one more thing - which was probably the most significant detail of all.  
Gail really wanted to grab the doctor and give her a soft kiss, shut her up, return the favor, Gail could come up with several different phrases for the deed she so badly wanted to do - but the bottom line was all the same - Gail wanted to kiss this hot brunette right then and there.  
But she being who she was, Gail realized she didn't have any plausible reason to get away with giving the pathologist even a quick peck at the least. There was no alcohol to place the blame on, no reason to do so in the least. So Gail, being her usual self - let the moment pass.  
The duo found themselves strolling towards Holly's house, which Gail now realized was in an extremely posh area of the city.  
"So, what is it you carry in that little lunchbox of yours?"  
"Gail, no matter how times you call it a lunchbox, it is still going to be a forensic analysis kit which has …."  
Gail was captivated by this side of the pathologist. She felt she could hear the older woman talk on days about anatomy and pathology and forensics and she would never get bored. She would probably not hear a thing - but seeing this older woman so talk so passionately about topics that seemed so distant to herself was now slowly becoming the blonde officer's most favorite thing in the world.  
"So, this is me."  
Gail realized they had now arrived in front a posh two-storey house which looked more like a family house than a nerdy pathologist's residence. Gail also realized she now had a reason to kiss the pathologist, finally.  
'A kiss goodbye!' Gail thought to herself, of course. It was the perfect way to end one of the suckiest days she had ever come across and hopefully make known to the pathologist her lingering feelings.  
Gail was already deep in thought about feeling Holly's lips. She racked her brains as she tried to remember how the kiss felt in the coat room. Though the emotions she felt then were extremely clear to Gail, the kiss itself was a blur - and the blonde was eager to feel Holly's lips again - just to remind herself how the first kiss was. Gail imagined kissing women to be gentler, smoother and possibly better than kissing men. She glanced between Holly's eyes and lips - and she could almost feel herself bursting with the urge to feel the brunette's lips with her own.  
What Gail had failed to notice, as the two had walked up to the doctor's front door, was that a light had turned on inside the house. Gail was halfway through grabbing the doctor and pulling her into a surprise kiss when a sudden noise distracted her. Her police instincts kicked in and she pushed the doctor behind herself and positioned herself in front of the door - so as to protect the pathologist from what Gail could only comprehend was an intruder in the doctor's home.  
"Gail? What are you doing?"  
"Didn't you hear that? I think there's someone -"  
The front door swung open - and out stepped a tall, fair redhead - who was clad in a pair of pajama pants and a pullover. This woman - in spite of her casual attire -was drop dead gorgeous - and Gail was stunned by the appearance of this other woman.  
"Finally! Are you done with your 'cathartic diversion' as you call it?"  
Gail was too stunned to speak. She felt a mix of extremely odd emotions - she could feel the blood drain from her face, yet she felt herself blush. She felt protective over Holly and yet she felt rebuffed by the pathologist - as she hadn't told her about this redhead woman - glad she had not embarrassed herself in trying to kiss the brunette yet she was embarrassed that she was now standing in a protective stance - attempting to protect Holly from someone she knew lived in her own house.  
"Hol, what's going on here?" - the redhead questioned - noticing Gail's awkward stance and looking over her to see Holly with an amused yet touched expression on her face.  
"Nothing much sweetie, By the way, this is Gail."  
"Oh, this is the snarky cop you were telling me about." - the redhead replied, sleepily staring the two who still hadn't shifted their positions.  
"Yeah! Gail, this is my girlfriend - Kate."


	2. Imagination

A.N: The oxy never happened. I purposely chose Marilyn Monroe's quote here, after all CS had played her. And I decided to keep this as Gail and Holly oriented as much as possible - not delving too much into Kate. Apologies for any errors.

The following day at the station, it had taken Gail Peck all of five minutes to resolve the mental battle that she was having in using her 'police privileges' to look up this Kate. It had also taken Gail two minutes to realize that she didn't need said police privileges to learn about Kate, for she was leading a quite a public life indeed.

Kate or Katherine O'Sullivan - was half-sister to famed actress Charlotte Sullivan. However, that wasn't the redhead's sole claim to fame. The redhead was an esteemed writer and blogger - who apparently ran a blog - Contemplative Musings - which was world-famous. Gail herself had never come across the blog - but she did notice this woman was no random third-rate socialite. Looking up the redhead's blog - Gail came across stunning photographs of Kate and a few clicks of the blogger's workspace - which she now recognized was the house she was at the previous night. Gail was there at the house for all of 90 seconds - before literally running out in embarrassment - but she recognized the place easily. No details were available about the blogger's dating life. Deciding to see what all the fuss about Kate was - Gail decided to give one of the blogger's blurbs a read.

Picking an article on Marilyn Monroe - Gail found herself engrossed in the article - despite her best efforts to not do so. The article was written in a style she found broody yet intriguing - sprinkled with quotes by Marilyn Monroe :

"Only parts of us will ever  
touch only parts of others –  
one's own truth is just that really — one's own truth.  
We can only share the part that is within another's knowing acceptable to so one is for most part alone.  
As it is meant to be  
evidently in nature — at best perhaps it could make our understanding seek another's loneliness out."

Gail closed the browser and sighed. Whoever this Katherine O'Sullivan was - she was definitely much more suited for Holly than herself. As much as she tried - Gail could not bring herself to hate the redhead. She was envious of her, sure - but she was also mentally kicking herself - for allowing her guard down this much -for falling for a woman she could in no way ever keep up with.

She closed her eyes and was immediately overcome with images of Holly and the redhead conversing, having fun and talking to each other all about anatomy and philosophy. Gail immediately felt guilty for not paying attention to Holly's ramblings - perhaps if she tried she could manage to keep up some conversation with the doctor. But then she reasoned with herself - she was Gail Peck. No way on Earth was she going to become a nerd overnight.

Now, winding up after her shift, Gail felt immensely tempted to call up the pathologist and ask if she would join her anywhere. Gail didn't care if the doctor took her to the batting cages - Hell, she could take Gail to a hockey rink and she still wouldn't mind. Gail was having a lonely night - and she just wanted a friend to while away the time with. It had been about two weeks since Gail had so valiantly attempted to protect Holly from her very own girlfriend - and though the two had texted and called each other after that night, Gail played off the whole event as a consequence of her obstinate feline skills - and Holly wrote off the scenario as one of Gail's quirks.

Gail told herself that the doctor would probably like a nice evening alone at home - _with her girlfriend._ (Gail always added the - 'her girlfriend' tag to each of her thoughts about Holly. Nothing like mental flagellation to tell herself she was being absurd about her feelings about the brunette.)

Deciding against giving the forensic pathologist a call - Gail decided to spend the evening with her other dear friend at the Penny - alcohol.

Gail had had quite a few drinks by the time she noticed Holly saunter into the bar. Using her Dutch courage, Gail ditched her friends and walked up to the bar - where Holly seemed to be waiting for someone.

_'Her girlfriend'_, Gail mentally told herself. But Gail didn't want to let the opportunity go to waste this time.

"Helloooo. Can you make it two?" - Gail called out to the bartender, while Holly turned to see her, trademark grin plastered on her face.

"Hey! I didn't know you'ld be here." - Holly replied with her usual air of casualness. Gail could not comprehend how the brunette could be so casual about everything - from reading dead bodies to giving self-doubting blonde's sneaky kisses on the lips in coat rooms.

"Dov's on this new trivia kick and he's not going to let us leave unless he's crowned king of the dorks." - Holly grinned harder at Gail's emphasis on the word dorks.

"Hey why don't I get this one and you can get the next round." - Gail stated. She wanted to really talk to the brunette, and was trying to sneak in a conversation before the doctor's girlfriend arrived. She wanted to ask Holly a thousand questions. She wanted to ask Holly why she had agreed to be her plus one to the wedding _- while she had a girlfriend_, why she had kissed her on the lips in a drunken stupor -_ while she had a girlfriend_, why she had agreed to take Gail to the batting cages - _while she had a girlfriend_. She wanted to clarify as to why the brunette seemed to have mentioned Gail to her girlfriend - but had never mentioned Kate to her.

"Actually, I'm meeting Kate soon." came Holly's swift reply.

"Oh. Sorry. " - Gail knew she had managed to embarrass herself in front of the doctor herself yet again. However the alcohol seemed to help to cope with the feeling.

"Don't be sorry." - Holly replied. Gail knew she was a bit drunk but she didn't expect herself to blurt the following words.

**"Is she like someone someone or just like someone?"** - Gail questioned - and she immediately kicked herself for it. Of all the questions she could have asked , she was asking this hot brunette doctor - who was clearly living with a hot redhead writer if her girlfriend was just someone.

"I don't know yet." was Holly's nonchalant reply - complete with her characteristic smile. She was used to Gail's quirks by now - and she didn't give much thought to the odd question the blonde officer had put forth to her.

Holly looked back and saw Kate walk in, and Gail turned to look as well.

"Oh, thanks for the drink!"

Holly left the bar to give her girlfriend a quick hug - and dragged her to a booth. Gail was again left speechless - and she was not liking the feeling one bit.

Gail went back and joined her friends. If Gail had a thousand questions running through her mind before -she had plenty more now. The word's _'I don't know yet'_ were still echoing in her mind but all Gail could see was the doctor and the redhead having an interesting conversation - interspersed with jokes and laughter.

If the mental imagery wasn't torturing enough - Gail now had actual memories of the doctor she could never have having fun with the redhead she could never match up to.

* * *

Gail Peck was seated at the briefing room - listening to the officers give out instructions and details about Ford. Chloe getting shot had definitely put Gail on alert - as it had put the whole division - and for now she tried to ignore the fact that it might have nearly been her.

"We will be riding out in as soon as we confirm the location" was the last thing Gail heard - as commotion took over the station and everyone rushed about to get to work. Gail leaned back rested her head against the cool wall - and tried to think of something that would soothe her.

Gail wasn't surprised that the first thought that popped into her head was Holly - but she was definitely annoyed. She knew there was no going back if she started taking comfort in the thought of Holly like this but Gail decided to play out the scenario mentally - to see if the thought of the doctor actually had this allure Gail thought she held.

_Gail thought of herself getting up, exiting the room and walking down the passageway of the precinct, mind on full guard, her defensive wall all well sealed and shut. She then imagined herself coming across the brunette - standing helplessly in the midst of the commotion - clutching a file._

"Hey? What are you doing here?" -_ she would question the brunette - while the brunette would scrunch her face to remember the quick excuse she had come up with as to why she was there._

"Oh, just had to drop off a report. Murder case from a couple of weeks ago." _- Holly would reply. (Gail gave the brunette that much credit - she wasn't one to come over without a plausible excuse.)_

"Doesn't the courier usually bring that stuff over?"-_ Gail would reply, playing out her own strengths. After all, she was a cop, a very instinctive one at that._

"Yeah, he was sick or something?" - _the brunette would reply - with all the casualness she could muster. But Gail with her penetrative gaze could be able to make out it was all a façade._

_Giving the pathologist a questioning look - she dreamt up Holly pulling her into a nearby empty interrogation room, while she noticed that Holly was dressed in blue - and Gail liked to think that the doctor had chosen this outfit because it reminded herself of the blonde's eyes._

'Is it true? i just - I heard a rumor there's a freak out there hunting you guys." - _Holly would ask - her glacial layer of calmness fast fading._

"Holly, I'm not allowed to talk about this." -_ she would reply - playing her bashful police officer card. She imagined her own walls giving in, as Holly gave a desperate look of longing - she would open herself up a bit and say_ -" There's an officer that was shot - she's in the hospital ,and a few other officers took fire."

_She thought how the brunette would catch the little pause between her words - and piece it all together immediately and softly begin_ "You mean you. " _and on realizing she was right would exclaim_ "Someone shot at you! And you're going to go back out there?" _Gail imagined all the straightforward thought processes Holly possessed going haywire - as pure adrenaline would take over the pathologist's brain._

"Yeah, Holly I'm a police officer - "_ - she thought herself slowly stating - in her attempt to calm the now very obviously flustered brunette._

"That doesn't mean you have to go out there and put yourself in danger! " _- Holly would exclaim ,all her mental facilities clearly not functioning._

"Yeah, Kinda does." -_ Gail would reply - half apologetically and despairingly._

_She then imagined a rambling Holly spewing out her thoughts as they popped up - which would be clearly more difficult to the brunette than quoting pathology facts._

" Oh, ok well fine but list listen - Kate? I barely know her, ok. She's just, she's just a stupid setup well anyway I just thought you should know. I don't know why I didn't tell you. I mean, I mean- We tell each other stuff right? Thats was so great is I was hanging out and I guess that's when I heard what was happening I just I thought I should come down here and I don't know make sure you were ok or something?"

_Gail thought of herself staring at Holly ramble away. She wouldn't tune out Holly for once - and she would notice how Holly was literally over herself in making sure the officer heard what she was saying. Gail thought of those soft lips which she had once kissed - and conjured up images of her shifting her gaze between the brunette's deep brown eyes and her lips. Not being able to control herself anymore, Gail thought of grabbing the brunette with both her hands and kissing her hard as her method of calming both herself and the brunette down. She imagined herself pausing between the kiss - to catch her breath and see if Holly had any qualms about the turn of events. Looking at those brown eyes, she would play her feline card and thought herself saying _"I'm sorry, you just had to stop talking."_ Seeing Holly had no qualms and was softly stating - _"I won't say another word"_ - she would slowly kiss the pathologist, more passionately. The more Gail imagined herself kissing Holly, the calmer she felt._

"Peck! We're going to roll out of here in about ten minutes! You cool with that?"

That was what woke Gail out of her sweet day dream - and she jerked to see Oliver, who had stopped at the room to inform Gail they were soon leaving.

"Yeah, Sure." - Gail replied her defenses immediately going up. She was surprised at how vulnerable she had felt, imagining that scenario with Holly.

Oliver then left Gail to gear up and as Gail approached the door which lead to the passageway - a tiny part of her was hoping to see a seemingly calm forensic pathologist dressed in blue, clutching at a file ,waiting at the precinct to see her.

Stepping into the passage and looking up and down, only to see officers rushing about, she softly sighed, hoping no one would notice how disappointed she was.


	3. Dark Do Wop

_A.N: Apologies for any errors._

It was finally over. The shift from Hell had certainly had its serious repercussions. All the rookies found themselves evaluating their priorities in life. For Gail - it was a moment of enlightenment. Out there in the streets - the sole person running through her mind was Holly. Now, she was standing in the hospital, staring at her feet, hoping to hear some news on the condition of her fellow officers. Steve and Chris were standing next to her, just as forlorn as she was. Well, maybe not as forlorn as she was - the officer now realized she was a goner for Holly, no turning back now.

"Hey, I came as soon as I heard."

Standing in the hospital like that, Holly's voice felt like Heaven to Gail. Gail didn't care anymore. She didn't care Holly had a girlfriend, she didn't care what anyone thought of her - she wanted comfort - and after a shift like that - Gail felt like she damn well deserved it.

Gail grabbed Holly into a bear hug. She could feel Holly hugging her back - and she found herself saying something - not even realizing what she was saying.

"I'm really glad that you're here, OK?"

Breaking that hug was in Gail's top ten list of the hardest moments in her life. She hadn't noticed the tears well up in her eyes. She didn't notice the catch in her throat when she introduced Holly to Steve and Chris. All she knew was she had fallen for Holly. To what depth she had fallen - Gail was yet to comprehend.

Waiting at the hospital to hear any news of Sam, Holly let Gail hold her hand. And Gail didn't care anymore. She didn't care Holly had a girlfriend. She didn't care how it seemed to everyone.

"Why don't you come over to my place tonight? Kate's out of town - and I don't want to - "

"Yes. I'll be there. As soon as I get out of these clothes - I'll be there."

She turned to look at Holly who gave her back a small smile. What Gail noticed about Holly was that she didn't look at the blonde with a look of sympathy as anyone else would have. Holly gave off the vibe that she was sincerely worried about Gail, and that comforted her. She should have given it more thought - as to why the older woman had so freely invited her over, why she was here holding hands to comfort the blonde instead of - well - anything else. Gail should have thought what would Holly's girlfriend - Kate think of the whole situation.

Gail, however was more interested - and feeling slightly elated at the fact the brunette was dressed in blue.

* * *

Holly didn't need to do much to take care of the blonde. Gail had refused food - grabbed alcohol and trudged up the stairs self-confidently and now all Holly could hear was MS MR blasting from the bathroom. Worried the blonde had passed out drunk - Holly tried knocking on the bathroom door to get the blonde's attention.

"Gail? How much longer you're going to be in there?"

MS MR's _Fantasy_ seemed to be blaring quite loud.

"Hey! Please confirm existence."

Not being able to hear anything much other than the music, Holly finally gave in.

"I'm coming in." Holly said and opened the bathroom door tentatively - not exactly prepared to see what was inside.

Seeing Gail - with jagged and messily cut hair - Holly told herself not to be too surprised. She remembered Gail mumbling at the hospital something about going back to the start and how taking off all the bad inches from her hair would help her erase the last few years.

"Who cares right? It's only hair. "

It was quite obvious that Gail had literally taken a pair of scissors and just snipped her pony tail right off.

Holly lowered the volume of the music and stared helpless at the blonde - who seemed to be quite out of her senses.

"So, this is happening?"

"Yeah, I mean saw your scissors and I just thought oh, Yay! There's something I could just rewind". Gail threw the scissors into the sink. Holly couldn't help but think if she hadn't waited to open the door - Gail's hair might have been salvaged.

Gail took her now cut pony tail in her hand and sat down on the bathroom floor. She then began explaining to Holly the various stages through her time at the force.

"You see this inch? This inch is from the academy, you know .This inch is from the first six months on the job, this inch is from when I was dating Chris, that's when Jerry died and then see then see these last few inches? That's round two with Nicholas!"

Holly noticed how vividly Gail was reacting to each part of her life - her _inches_ as she was referring to them. She noticed the way Gail's voice accentuated while telling about the various times in her life - the various events she wanted to be done away with.

Gail finished her mini tale and grabbed the bottle to get a drink, while Holly approached her and started her attempt at comforting the blonde.

"Ok, but honey - "

"No look, look, look! There's literally no bad inches as I'm just gonna go back to the beginning and I'm rewinding everything and I" - Gail's voice cracked as she broke into a laugh and she felt her hair with her hands and realized it was significantly shorter.

"What did I do? What did I do!"

It suddenly hit Gail that she had actually cut her hair in her attempt at cleansing herself of her memories.

"You cut off all your hair."

Holly was quite stumped herself, in her attempt to calm the blonde.

"I'm freaking out a little bit aren't I."

"Yeah."

* * *

Sitting in Holly's bathtub like a 5-year-old was the highlight of Gail's day. She could hear herself drunkenly rambling about (not surprisingly) philosophy, while Holly tried her best to salvage what was left of Gail's blonde hair.

"Life."

" I know right? Who needs it?"

"You plan and plan and prepare, but it doesn't really matter 'cause things just go where they wanna go." Gail had to admit - she was rocking the whole philosophy ideal - perhaps blogging about it wasn't that big a deal.

"Yup, Sorta like this cowlick."

Gail took a moment to recount the day's events. It seemed surreal to think about even.

"I'm sitting in your bathtub, wondering if my friends are still alive, drinking bourbon with the coolest chic ever - and I have no hair."

"Not exactly a fairy tale." Holly stated - finishing her rescue mission of Gail's hair.

"No."

"But still kinda beautiful though. " Holly started using her hand to lift Gail's face by the chin - and Gail looked up to see Holly staring at her with such love Gail could feel her heart flutter.

"Oh really?"

Holly hummed in reply as she ran her hand across Gail's cheek.

Holly's phone which had been docked at the music player softly started playing MS MR's _Dark Do Wop_ as Gail felt absolutely defenseless and she looked at Holly for some relief.

The music abruptly stopped and the phone started to ring - and Holly got up from her perch at the edge of the bath tub and went to pick up the phone, exiting the bathroom as she answered the call.

* * *

"Hey! I heard there was some shooting or something down at your division!"

"Yeah. It was quite an eventful day to say the least."

"Did anything happen to you? Are you hurt or something?"

"No! No - I was at the airport with you when the whole incident took place. And then I heard some of the officers were shot at so I went down to the hospital to check on them."

"How bad are they?"

"Pretty bad. "

"Don't you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I'm still too close to it. I half don't believe it happened."

"How's your friend Gail?"

"In the middle of a nervous breakdown. She isn't talking much about what happened today. But she is in the bathroom here now, she cut off all her hair with the scissors."

"I told you not to keep them in the bathroom."

"Not funny Kate, not yet."

"Okay! Okay. I just wanted to know if you're safe."

"I'm fine. I wasn't shot at today."

"Well I'm glad. I've got to go for the next presentation. Stay safe with all this going on okay?"

"Yeah, you too."

* * *

Gail, in the meanwhile - was too busy sitting in the bath tub - conjuring images of a very steamy make out session in the tub with a completely clothed yet wet Holly and herself - all with _Dark Do Wop_ blaring in the background.


	4. The morning after

_A.N. Apologies for any errors._

_Gail sat at the breakfast table, chomping down a bowl of cereal before she had to leave for her shift. Holly was nowhere to be seen when Gail had woken up - but she could hear the shower running. Seeing that it was considerably late - Gail assumed the pathologist had gone for a run and was now in the shower. For someone so nerdy - Gail found Holly way too athletic about her pastimes._

_Gail was quite grumpy. Waking up without Holly had set the blonde on an edge._

_"You're up! Early Shift?"_

_Holly now appeared in the room - wearing nothing but a black bathrobe - one which Holly knew Gail absolutely loved, clutching a coffee mug with her hands._

_Gail snorted. She was grumpy and she had no qualms in letting the brunette know that._

_Holly, of course, knew Gail hated waking up without her - but the pathologist had wanted to sneak in a quick jog before the blonde woke up._

_Holly knew Gail by now. Playing Gail to her cute charm was now Holly's favorite hobby. Cheekily grinning, Holly walked up to Gail and as if out of habit - she sat across the blondes' lap._

_Gail knew she had lost. No matter how hard she tried, Gail could not stay mad at Holly for long - atleast for something so trivial._

_Gail looked up to gaze at Holly, who had made herself quite comfortable across her lap, and was slowly running her fingers through Gail's now short strands of blonde hair._

_"I thought I was the cat here." Gail mused dreamily at Holly._

_"Really? That's odd. I thought I got your tongue last night. " Holly chuckled back at Gail, who was now smiling at her._

_"Touché" , Gail grinned back as Holly bent her head down to give Gail a kiss._

* * *

A loud ringing jerked Gail awake. Cursing the phone's alarm and shutting it off - Gail looked around her and realized she was in Holly's large sized bed - but Holly was nowhere to be seen.

She recollected the dream she was just having and groaned. It was one thing to use the thought of a person to calm herself down - but lesbian sexual innuendo was a whole different ball game altogether. Gail had to admit it now - she was smitten.

Stirring slowly, Gail looked around the bedroom. The wall to the right of the bed was completely covered in books - not an inch of the wall could be seen. Gail could make out few of the huge tomes as encyclopedias and medicine books. The wall opposite to the bed led to a closet and a dresser. Immediately to the left of the bed - was a bedside table with a night lamp, an empty glass case and a photo frame. Gail groaned out loud again at the situation she had now placed herself in. She was now on the way to be the third wheel in what seemed to be a very stable relationship. However, she could not stop herself from grabbing the photo frame to get a good look at the picture in it. (Nothing like a photograph of the love of your life with her partner to spur more self-hatred.)

Gail was expecting to see a sickly adorable picture of Kate and Holly - but she was amazed to see it was a picture of Holly and her parents at what seemed to be Holly's graduation. Holly looked younger, nerdier - if that was possible even - and adorable , holding up her degree with her mum and dad standing on either side of her, kissing Holly on the cheek - while Holly grinned the widest lopsided grin.

Gail was astonished. Kate and Holly seemed to be living with each other - but this was their bedroom - one of the most intimate places of any relationship - and Gail couldn't help but feel the atmosphere in the room was dull.

Looking to the other bedside table in search of another photo frame - Gail saw a photograph of Kate and what seemed to be a huge family. Gail set the photo of Holly back on the bedside table and craned her neck to see the photo of the redhead more clearly. It seemed to be a family get-together. Gail noticed Charlotte Sullivan and her husband amongst the set of faces - but no Holly.

Gail was now a lot more curious about Kate and Holly's relationship. It seemed as if there was no evidence that the two were in a relationship - save the shared address.

Realizing she was hungry and she was getting delayed for her shift - Gail got up from the bed and climbed down the stairs to find Holly reading the morning paper.

"Hey."

Holly looked up from the paper to see Gail, who still seemed tired and sleepy.

"The cowlick seems worse now that you've just woken up."

"I know. My hairdresser's usual clients are dead people so I'm trying not to be too critical.", Gail quipped back, pouring herself a cup of coffee from the coffee machine.

Taking the cup to the table, Gail sat herself down next to Holly, who had gone back to reading the paper, looking for info on the shootout perhaps.

Gail scanned the room which was adjacent to the living room - and Gail recognized the décor from Kate's blogs.

"Those are Kate's books. Her philosophy books, paintings, photographs and so on."

Gail had had enough with being courteous and not too nosy. She was a cat after all - and now curiosity was now getting the better of her.

"What's the deal with you and Kate?"

Holly turned to look at Gail with an expression Gail assumed meant - What do you mean?

"I mean you live with her - but there's no pictures of you and her anywhere. She's apparently quite famous and yet had never mentioned you, not even casually. Even roommates get along better than that I think."

Holly sighed. She should have known that the blonde officer wasn't as distant as she claimed herself to be and was always noting things others would generally look over. It was an aspect in which Holly related to Gail and admired deeply - but now it had just gotten the better of her.

"Gail, it's a long story -"

"Well, make it short then."

Holly sighed. Not many people appreciated her choice of living with Kate and she was pretty sure Gail wasn't going to approve of anything was going to she hear.

"We met about a year back, Charlotte introduced us - "

"Wait a second, you're friends with Charlotte Sullivan?"

Holly shrugged. "She approached me to help her with this role in a movie where she plays a forensic analyst. We both became good friends over that."

Gail was impressed. She knew Holly was damn good at her job - but she hadn't expected the brunette to be this famous.

"Go on."

"What's there to say? We both hit it off - had too much to drink - one thing led to another and - it started off with one night. Next day we both agreed that was that. Couple of weeks later we both met up at a conference where we both learnt we were lonely people who where heartbroken and who needed companionship. She had just decided to take a break from the hectic life at New York and was thinking of taking a break for here at Canada and I was lonely and so I thought what the Hell? She's a good friend, a really understanding one at that - "

"So, this is a friends with benefits sort-off scenario?"  
Gail was quite feeling quite a barrage of emotions. Gosh this woman could rack up a lot of emotion in her. She was now extremely envious of the woman who had gotten to know the pathologist so intimately, she was angry at who ever had left Holly heartbroken in the first place. More importantly however - Gail was horrified at the thought that Holly hadn't found someone who truly appreciated her - and was willing to settle for companionship without finding love.

"Gail, it's more than that. We look out for each other. And she's always been there for me and it's convenient, and - "

"Does she love you?"

Holly stopped short and stared at Gail contemplatively. Gail noticed there was mental battle going on in the brunette's brain - as she struggled to answer Gail's rather direct question. Gail stared at the doctor - who seemed so distressed at the thought processes going through her head.

"Well it depends on how you look at it - "

Gail lost it. She grabbed Holly with both her hands and crashed lips into the brunette's. Gail kissed her passionately - and she felt Holly kiss her back. Breaking the kiss, Gail felt herself mouth the words _Oh my God._ Gail was reminded of the coat room - where the brunette had sneakily given her a soft kiss, which had left her stunned - But this was nowhere close. Lifting her gaze to see Holly, she noticed Holly looked shaken and quite aroused, but with an expression of surprise in her face.

Gail knew she owed Holly an explanation. She however hadn't expected herself to confess her heartfelt emotions to her.

"I'm sorry, you just - Being with someone like you should never be a convenience. It should totally mess up a person - and leave them breathless. And you deserve to be appreciated so much I can't - " Gail paused to catch her breath and she noticed the tears in Holly's eyes.

"You deserve someone who will know how lucky they are to have you every moment of the day."

Gail's phone started ringing - and for the third time Gail found herself cursing the goddamned thing. She didn't move an inch however - she was still holding Holly's face in her hands - and it was Holly who sort off backed away. Noticing the tension in the air, Gail let Holly go - her heart slowly breaking at the fact that it was Holly who was backing away.

Fumbling in her pocket to find the phone - she found a call and a message from Steve that Sam was out of the woods.

Slowly walking to the front door, Gail grabbed the coat she had carelessly strewn the last night and geared up to leave.

"I have to go."

Holly walked to the living room to see Gail half out the door, looking back at her and stared at the blonde for a moment before nodding.

The blonde shut the door behind her - and mentally kicked herself for what was one of the poorest decisions of her life, ever.


	5. Not so botched boob-job

_A.N: Apologies for any errors._

Gail and Oliver sat in the back of the stakeout van - looking out for any movement on the 'losers' they were about to arrest. Oliver was trying to not point out Gail's sudden sweetness and consideration for the world - but Gail Peck being so grateful and compassionate was hard for Oliver to ignore.

Deciding it was too much, Oliver grabbed the beanie of Gail's head - and Gail was immediately self-conscious. She didn't mind the short hair - but she definitely wasn't used to it yet.

"May I please have my hat back Oliver?"

"No, you may please not have your hat back, you know what I'll tell you why 'cause it's driving me bonkers. This whole shift? I don't know what's going on with you. Where's my petulant Peck?" Oliver wasn't worried about Gail - he was just surprised at this new version of her - and was surprised to notice that none of the blonde's previous comments where sarcastic.

"What if I told you I was turning over a new leaf?" - Gail stated, removing her coat and making herself comfortable for what seeming to become a long stakeout session.

"Why are you gonna do that?" - Oliver was fond of Gail, after all - she was his favorite Rookie. It amazed him to see _Gail Peck_, trying to change over a new leaf.

Gail looked away, she didn't want to delve too much into how in love she was with a brunette pathologist - who had an extremely competent girlfriend. One she had kissed in the heat of the moment.

Oliver scrutinized Gail before realizing she was quite awkward talking about the whole state of affairs. "Oh I know what's happening. It's been a rough few weeks, but you can't just go changing who you are."

Not looking directly Oliver, Gail finally owned up to something that had pricked her heart for years now. "What if I told you sometimes I don't like who I am."

"Gail."

"Holly's not gonna want to be with a jerk, Oliver."

Oliver realized that Gail was blaming herself for not being someone who could ever match up to Holly's girlfriend - in the curious ways only Gail had thought off.

"You are not a jerk, these" - pointing to the screen they were monitoring "are jerks. "Jerk, Jerk, Jerk. You? Your relationship with the universe? With the Cosmos? Your healthy disrespect for everything ? That's what makes you one in a million. Truly"

Gail knew Oliver was trying to cheer her up. She realized that he was trying to say that if Holly loved her - it would be for who she was exactly.

_If Holly would ever love her._

She hadn't dared call the brunette after that morning and she hadn't crossed paths with her since. Gail knew it was now too long to not talk about the situation - the point where she didn't know if it still held that much significance as it did or if it was just one of the many gestures people wrote off. But Gail didn't know anything else to do. The ball was in Holly's court now, nothing much Gail could do but wait, even if it was in gut wrenching agony.

"What was it? What did you call Holly when you first met her? Tell me."

Gail rolled her eyes and damned herself for being all cynical when she first met Holly and sighed "Lunchbox."

Oliver snapped his fingers to prove his point. "See! That's Gail Peck."

Deciding that Oliver had her way with her enough, Gail decided to tease Oliver about being whipped by Celery.

"Oliver what's in that stuff?" Gail asked as Oliver took a sip from his drink, knowing very well it was something Celery must have made for the older officer.

Oliver knew it was his turn now.

"This is, this a Kale - concoction of Kale."

* * *

Holly Stewart was a logical person. Every decision she took in her life revolved around the use of sheer logic. Sure, Holly had tried being 'spontaneous' in love - taking a chance in the feelings of her heart - and after being left heartbroken - Holly realized her heart was decidedly foolish. Her aching loneliness juxtaposed with her logical thought processes were what lead her to her relationship with Kate. Holly, after giving up on crazy, stupid love, had decided that she would never come across someone who she would love, someone who would love her - and settled for companionship.

Holly tried reasoning with herself - Kate wasn't a bad person. She was sweet, funny, nerdy and one of the many reasons Holly liked Kate was because she was so much like her. She had been there for Holly when she needed someone, looked out for her and had helped her through a bleak time in her life.

Then Holly met Gail - and for the most illogical reasons - Holly found herself liking Gail. It astounded Holly and her rational mind - that she found herself drawn to this snarky, blue-eyed cop whom she had absolutely nothing in common with. Yet she liked Gail. The way the cop had so insolently asked why she was _'saying all these words'_, hung around the lab long after she needed to, the way Gail had sat and explained to her so patiently her shortcomings in relationships (though discreetly and with a very odd yet apt simile) - it all had fascinated Holly and she could not help but like this oh-so-tough cop with her self-proclaimed feline skills. And that was why Holly had agreed to go to the wedding with Gail.

Holly hated these kind of occasions herself - public proclamations of love forever after was nowhere in her list of favorite things - but she had agreed to go so that she could spend the evening with the snarky officer outside of work.

Holly remembered the coatroom quite clearly and was quite horrified at her own lack of discretion. She knew she liked the cop - but enough to give her a kiss to shut her up? That was a first for Holly. She wasn't a person who did things in the spur of the moment. Even in her relationships - Holly always made sure her partner was comfortable with her advances before making a move. She reasoned with herself that it was a drunken error - and hoped against hope that Gail wouldn't run away from her. She had been hugely relieved when Gail had spoken to her quite normally the next day. Not surprisingly - she found herself rambling all about Gail to Kate - who didn't seem to mind.

Holly couldn't comprehend why she had invited Gail over at the hospital - but she didn't mind that. She wouldn't have done anything else in the world other than comfort the blonde who was trying hard to hold on the pieces of her. Holly hadn't expected that kiss however. That kiss had sparked a fire in Holly that had been dormant for a while now. Holly was now well aware of her feelings towards the blonde. After a long time - Holly was now smitten, by the force of nature that was Gail Peck.

Now however - Holly found herself in a dilemma - the age-old battle between head and heart had started again - and Holly was clueless as to what to do.

Kate was away at the conference, one which Holly was to join in a few days and Holly was sick of the mental torment she was having - and decided her to talk it out to her friends who would perhaps shine some light on which direction to go.

At the Penny, Holly was halfway through explaining to Rachel and Lisa her impasse when she saw Gail walk in. Logic went out the window and Holly found herself inviting Gail over for a drink. Gail was surprised at Holly's eagerness but decided to accept Holly's version of what she assumed was an olive branch.

Gail sat down next to Holly and looked at Rachel and Lisa - wondering if she was what the trio was talking about.

After all the introductions were done, Lisa and Rachel decided to see where this was going and wondered what it was about Gail that had made Holly so unpredictably impulsive.

"What sort of medicine do you guys practice?" Gail asked, not exactly sure what she was doing there, but deciding to go along and see what Holly was trying to imply.

"Lisa is doing her residency is plastics and Rachel is at a CF clinic in St. Pats." Holly answered, without giving anyone a chance to reply - and the two friends were amused at Holly's sudden restlessness.

Gail groaned internally. More Doctors? Gail wouldn't be surprised if some Nobel Prize winner came up and spoke to Holly next. Gail decided to try to keep up with the conversation - deciding that this was all part of 'turning over a new leaf.'

"Oh wow, CF, I meant that, That's" Gail knew she had lost then. She swore at herself for trying to swim so deep in a topic she barely knew the surface off.

"Cyst fibrosis."

"Yeah I know, I know. I was going to say that's very heavy." Gail played off her cool officer card, and hoped she played it well. Rachel and Lisa on the other hand, were having a really fun time enjoying the show, looking at the duo - who looked extremely nervous but obviously smitten with each other.

"Saving lives generally is. Not that Holly would know." Lisa stated, deciding to join the act which Holly for some God forsaken reason was orchestrating.

"Oh two drinks in and already with the lecture." Holly fired back, hoping Lisa wouldn't embarrass her in front of the blonde.

"I find it interesting that Holly was at the top of our class and yet chooses to spend her career poking at dead people."

Gail wasn't surprised at all, and for once she wasn't overwhelmed with all the nerdiness that was Holly Stewart. She was genuinely proud of Holly, a feeling which was extremely new to Gail, but one she wouldn't mind getting used to. She turned to look at Holly, who was now looking bashful and trying to come up with a retort to get back at Lisa.

Gail gave Holly a soft smile and was immediately on guard for what Lisa ever was going to say through the evening about pathologist she was now head over heels in love with.

"Hmm Mmm. As opposed to saving the world one boob job at a time?"

Gail was impressed at Holly's comeback. Perhaps she had rubbed off on the sweet, nerdy pathologist as well.

"I'm a woman who likes a perfect pair of breasts. Sue me." Gail shot a sly glance at Lisa, who was now laughing at her own joke. Well, at least Holly wasn't her girlfriend, because Gail was pretty sure she would have tased herself in the eye a long time back.

"Fine , fair enough. Touché. " Holly relented as she took a sip of her drink.

"So, tell us about your job Gail?" Rachel joined in - deciding to partake in the charade now, knowing fully well Gail was the blonde cop Holly claimed to be enamoured with.

"Oh I'm a cop. Pretty straight forward." Gail wasn't ashamed of who she was. Sure, she wished she was more knowledgeable about philosophy and anatomy but there wasn't a moment Gail wished she was anything but an officer of the law.

"That's not true you have tons of crazy stories." Holly started, encouraging Gail to open up and share with the impromptu group.

"Hold on, we need another round first." Rachel said, gearing up to order another round.

"I'll buy. " Lisa quickly added, deciding to leave the besotted couple alone for a few moments.

"Thank You."

Gail stared at Holly with a burning passion. There were several questions to be answered, but all Gail could feel was the overwhelming need to kiss Holly again. Staring passionately at the brunette, Gail wanted to kiss those soft lips again, taste Holly, feel the woman's lips with her own and take her home. Gail was staring intently at Holly, conjuring up images of kissing the brunette as she rambled on. Gail had to agree - the only thing better than dreaming of kissing Holly was the act itself. Gail was completely lost in dreamland - and all she could taste on her tip of her tongue were Holly's soft tender lips.

Little did Gail know, the pathologist was having similar thoughts about the blonde, and was holding her breath, staring back at her with the same intensity.

"Drinks are coming." - Rachel stated as the two joined them back. Rachel almost felt bad for interrupting what was clearly a lingering glance between the infatuated two.

"Go, It's you. Story." Holly stated - attempting to break Gail from whatever trance she was in.

"Oh they want a story." Gail recollected her thoughts and tried to think of something that would show Holly's friends she wasn't just an average police officer.

"One time my partner got stabbed by a homeless man and almost bled to death in my arms in an abandoned factory" Gail started, retelling the time Chris had bled profusely in her arms. Gail told her tale with nonchalance, giving off the air that this was a random story that popped into her head out of the various gruesome tales she could actually say.

"He's still alive. So, I'm too am in the business of saving lives." Gail finished - pleased with her style. She had been herself completely throughout the story and she realized she was a pretty damn fine cop indeed.

Holly laughed and Rachel at Holly looked impressed.

Gail didn't care. Holly was laughing at her. Thankfully, she wasn't enraged by the kiss.

* * *

Gail had left for Fite Nite after deciding there was no way to catch an intimate moment with Holly. There were plenty of questions yet to be answered - but Gail for now was satisfied with the fact that she hadn't scared Holly away. Not yet anyway.

"Well, you were right, she is gorgeous. I mean it's still not going to last." Lisa started - realizing the whole evening was some sort of excuse for Holly to be with Gail without exactly acknowledging her feelings.

"Wow, I think that's a record in rash-judgment, even for you. Congrats. Think it's time to cut you off." Holly stated back, accustomed to Lisa's penchant for sizing up people in a few minutes.

"Holly, you're a doctor and she's lovely and she's fine but sweetie, she's a beat cop." Lisa stated, she was just looking out for Holly. She knew Holly had had her heart-broken a couple of times - a sight which was ugly to see. Lisa was one of the few who didn't mind Holly's relationship with Kate which was one of the reasons why Holly was friends with her. Lisa knew heartbreak wasn't Holly's field of expertise and she felt Holly was better off with Kate than taking a gamble on the blonde.

"So?"

"So? You're out of her league!"

Holly shook her head. She had wanted her friends to clear up this mental battle - but hearing Lisa's opinion had only made her realize what she wanted.

It was like the moment a person tosses a coin to decide what to do. It doesn't matter whether the coin landed on its heads or tails. Because when it was up in the air, your heart lunged forward toward the side you wanted the coin to land on - the decision you subconsciously wanted to take - but were too confused to settle on.

Holly sighed. She knew she and Gail had to have a talk but before that - she had a conference to get to - one where her girlfriend was waiting for her.

_A.N: I'm gonna need more Golly scenes to work with - Ok I'm gonna need you guys to review this because I don't know whether to wait for new Golly scenes or proceed with my imagination._


	6. Got your thumb

_A.N: Apologies For any Errors._

Holly stared at the little card with fancy type that was placed on her hotel room's table.

_Dr. Holly Stewart,_

_Forensic Pathologist Extraordinaire._

Holly had to snort at the convention organizers attempt at charming her. She stared at card and asked herself if she was truly extraordinaire. She couldn't decide between the woman she had fallen for - and the woman who had been her rock thus far - not exactly a situation the extraordinaire would find themselves in.

She closed her eyes and fell back in the comfy little hotel chair. Her first thought was of Gail and how she would tease the life out of her if she ever found this card. She pictured Gail with all her snark - making the most annoyingly adorable remarks about her being a Nerd Extraordinaire, Baseball Player Extraordinaire.

Heart-thief Extraordinaire.

Holly immediately went back to Gail's words the morning after the impromptu haircut. She replayed Gail's words in her mind over and over again - trying to grasp where all this passion had stemmed from. Holly hadn't pegged Gail as a passionate person, but that kiss was passion if not anything else.

A soft knock distracted her from her thought processes and Holly got up to open the door to let in Kate, who seemed exhausted after a long, tiring day.

"Hey!"

"Holly, that was an amazing presentation!"Kate started, walking towards the bed, and falling flat on it.

"Kate, you were asleep at the back row, I saw you!"

"I wasn't asleep, I was committing all that you said to memory", Kate stated back, staring at the ceiling as Holly chuckled at her attempt at saving face.

"You don't have to do this you know. I know you've had a rough few weeks-" Holly began before Kate let out a loud sigh of relief.

"Thank God! I don't think I would have survived if it weren't for that quick nap right there!"

"No need to be rude now," Holly fired back, throwing a pillow at Kate and settling back on the chair.

Holly took a moment to recount her thoughts. Here was one of the sweetest people she had ever met, a woman who had helped put back together pieces of herself and then there was Gail - who was plaguing the pathologist's thoughts since the moment she laid eyes on her.

"So, I fly back tomorrow, and you join me back in 2 weeks time!"- Kate stated, turning herself to look at Holly , who was staring back at her with a lost expression.

"Yup." - Holly said back not paying any attention to what Kate was saying.

"Hol."

"Hmm?"

"Okay, I think you're fried after today. Better get some rest and be ready to rise and shine again tomorrow. And try to not make the audience fall asleep again will you?", said Kate as she began to leave for her own room.

"Hmm."

Kate turned back to glance at Holly, who still hadn't stirred an inch, and was still staring at the bed she had just gotten up from.

"Hol?"

Kate knew Holly was on an edge, and didn't want to exactly deal with her now. She had to pack and was in a dilemma of her own.

"HOLLY STEWART! Get some sleep NOW! You look sleep deprived for God's sake!"

Holly jerked at Kate's loud tone and managed a nod as Kate left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Holly knew she wasn't sleep deprived however. She was Gail-deprived. Her heart was screaming for love, but her brain was cautioning her.

* * *

Gail sat at her desk, cursing the fact that she was left in charge of Oliver's first born. Right now, all she could do was to do her job, which was to take care of Oliver's flighty little furball of a daughter when Traci told her to go down to the morgue with a thumb.

Gail groaned. She knew Holly was back from her International Convention at New York and was dreading seeing the pathologist again. The lack of communication ,or rather her fear of communication was killing her, because Gail was sure if the pathologist had needed to say anything, she would have. Gail trusted the pathologist to be rational in her decisions, unlike herself who was capricious and insane.

Gail had tried her best to get over the pathologist. She reasoned with herself that there was absolutely no way that Holly would leave her girlfriend to be with her, a beat cop in a police station. But Gail could not write away the longing she had for the brunette, the way her heart ached to be Holly's _Plus One Forever,_ the way her mind wanted to listen to her ramble all the livelong day and they way she simply yearned for the nerdy pathologist's company and warmth.

Gail had been stunned to see Holly so cold and heartless when she was at the morgue. She was dying to hear all about how thumbs were the most vital finger in fingerprinting or something along the lines of how rehydrating dead skin cells made extracting a fingerprint more uncomplicated - but all that filled the room was awkward silence. A silence which she so badly wanted to break - but seeing the normally sweet and kind brunette so shut-off, Gail decided to let things be.

At the end of the shift - which had been hell as somewhere at the morgue the little furball had given Gail the slip - Gail was exhausted. She was sure she would have fallen flat on the floor in exhaustion if she hadn't noticed her favorite pathologist walking right towards her.

"Got your thumb" Holly said, holding up the evidence bag that held the severed thumb, the last thing on Earth she thought that would lead her to a conversation with the blonde.

"Thanks" Gail started, staring back at Holly with her blue eyes, longing for a hug, a touch of her fingers, anything.

"Did you find her?"

"Yeah, she's outside."

"Huh. Couldn't pay me to go back to that age" - Holly started, remembering her own awkward teenage years.

"I'm still at that age."

Holly looked back at the blonde with a grin.  
Gail groaned. That lopsided grin would be the death of her.

"You couldn't have been that bad, Nerd." Gail quipped , in her desperate attempt for laid back conversation after those awkward silences at the lab.

"Ah, but I was. Thought I'ld have a little fun once and I managed to drunkenly wreck my dad's car. Grounded the whole summer."

Gail immediately thought of the nerdy Holly from the photo she saw on her bedside table and conjured up images of the young pathologist trying to be all cool and getting drunk and let out a laugh which was somehow reserved only for her conversations with the pathologist.

Holly smiled back at the laughing blonde and felt herself relax after a tiring day.

"Looks like I underestimated you, Lunchbox."

"Seems like you have."

They both stared at each other, glad to have laughed off all the tension that had managed to build up in the past few weeks. There was quite a bit in the air to be cleared up though,

"Sorry if I was rude to you at the morgue. I've had a crappy few weeks myself."  
"Eh, it was nothing," , Gail quickly replied back, wondering what had set the cool, level-headed brunette on an edge.

"No, it was misdirected anger so I apologize " Holly started again and Gail had to admire at how sweet this woman truly was.

"What's going on?" - Gail asked, giving in - knowing that Holly was dying to bring up the topic, but wasn't able to do so discreetly.

"Kate. She's got a job offer - in London."

Gail knew what was coming. She knew it was now that the pathologist would finally make it clear if she was truly interested in the blonde, or if she was going to stick with Kate.

"And?"

"And it's completely her decision if she takes the job or not."

Gail groaned. She should have known someone as sweet as Holly would also always make sure she was politically correct.

"So? Why are you so upset about that?"

"I don't want her to take the wrong decision, Gail." Holly confessed, looking into the blonde's blue eyes, hoping for an answer.

"I hope she doesn't take the wrong decision either."


	7. So many inconsistencies

_A.N: Not a huge fan of what the show is hinting. Fingers crossed. Apologies for anything._

Holly sat at the airport, staring into space, completely surprised and astonished by her own actions a few minutes ago. Did she just do that?

_*10 minutes ago*_

Kate sat flustered next to Holly, trying her best to calm her nerves. Holly was trying her best to calm her girlfriend's down, well her soon to be ex-girlfriend. Holly had not said a word to Kate about her decision. Kate had tried deducing what could be best for the two of them, but a series of impulsive decisions had led them to both now to the airport, with less than 15 minutes left for her to board a flight to London. The redhead was almost on the verge of bursting with anxiety while Holly was trying to tell herself that this relationship was soon going to be over.

"So, this is happening." Kate began, deciding it was time to state the obvious, in hopes to ease the pain of parting.

"Great timing on the conversation Kate, Really great timing." Holly had to laugh at herself for that, she was catching Gail's sarcasm and now had to resort to using it.

"Yeah. I know. Better now than never then."

"Well, what can do you want me to say, Kate? That this was a good ride?" Holly said, turning away, not daring to look at Kate. As much as she was in love with Gail, Kate held a special place in her heart. And now she was leaving, across the Atlantic. She was telling herself that this was good, she could now be with Gail without feeling guilty about ditching her, but that didn't help the sadness she was feeling anyway.

The boarding call sounded and they both knew this was goodbye. They both stood up, Kate all ready with baggage in hand and ready to leave. Holly couldn't move much however, her mind was too full of thought processes to ponder over, all of them trying to lead her logically to the happiness she was longing for.

"Hol."

The pathologist turned to see Kate, who however ready she seemed to leave , doubt was etched all over her face. Holly could feel her heart breaking slowly at Kate leaving her, all the endings of her previous relationships coming to mind. Holly had to admit, this one was certainly better than the last couple of relationships that had left her resort to being so guarded in the first place.

"If you want me to stay, I'll stay."

Holly knew the very decision she was now faced with, the very decision she had been dreading to take for the past week, hell the past month even was now staring her right in the face. She had been so torn between the blonde and Kate, and she had decided that the best was to let the situation sort itself out, but now Holly was confronted with the decision she was sure she would regret either way.

"Kate."

"I mean they'ld understand if I cancel the thing now, they can give me a job here, or at Vancouver and sure it isn't good as actually working there but I can demand that, they're desperate there and" -

Holly knew rambling when she saw it, and she knew Kate was someone who was truly considerate and was probably kicking herself for not talking this over sooner.

"Kate, Kate, Kate. Just stop, stop talking." Holly softly sighed, slowly bringing Kate into a tight hug, trying to keep her own emotions in check and she knew she was going to have to finally voice her heart's desires, as discreetly as she could, without hurting the woman who was on the verge of turning back home.

They stood like that for moment, holding on to the now fading wisps of their relationship.

The final boarding call sounded now, and the two broke the hug, Kate still not letting her grip on Holly go, staring at her grip on the brunette's arm.

"Kate, I think you should go."

Kate looked up to see Holly biting her lower lip, and on the verge of tears herself. She reluctantly let go of her arm, and turned to the board her plane.

Holly watched her go disappear into the inner pathways that led to the plane, completely stunned at her own spontaneity at telling Kate to leave. Holding her breath, she slowly walked back to the seating area, sat down and wondered from where on Earth she got the courage to voice out her thoughts like that. She was sure, the root of that urge was certainly a blonde cop.

After sitting at the bench long after the plane had taken-off, Holly realized she could now finally do what she had been longing to do for quite some time now.

* * *

Marching into the precinct with a new found energy and a clumsily put-together file, Holly got a glimpse of blonde hair and was on Gail's trail already.

"Gail!" she called out, as Gail turned around to see her, surprise all over her face as she saw the brunette approach her. Holly kept her face as stern as possible, trying not to be too overt with her actual intentions.

"Hi." Gail replied in confusion at seeing Holly look as if she rushed through hell to talk to her.

"Hi. I've got a problem with a case, it's one you worked a couple of months ago? You filed a report that's full of inconsistencies. Can we talk somewhere privately? How about - in here?" Holly gestured to a nearby interrogation room, dragging the now completely annoyed cop into the room with her.

As Gail tried and studied the file Holly had handed to her, Gail was stumped. "I didn't work this case I don't even recognize the -" Gail couldn't finish that sentence however, as Holly had now flung the file away and was now crashing her lips into hers.

Gail was surprised, but ecstatic at Holly's change in conduct. She had been longing to make out with the brunette in an interrogation room ever since the little mind-play she had had in her head, and as Gail was slowly getting lost in the way Holly was kissing her so passionately, hearing Holly moan into her mouth, it suddenly hit Gail that this was all too good to be true.

She broke the kiss to allow herself to catch her breath, while silently moaning 'Oh my God' herself, to catch up with what had changed, while Holly turned to see that they weren't exactly alone in the interrogation room.

"Wait, can he see us?" Holly asked, on the verge of kicking herself for not checking the room first.

"He wishes!" Gail quipped back, quite sure the suspect who was being held in the interrogation room would kill to be able to see what was happening behind the 1-way mirror.

Gail was thoroughly confused now. Holly's sudden change in behavior, the sudden lack of oxygen had hit her pretty hard.

"What the hell is going on?" Holly was now taking off her classes and setting her hair somewhat straight, and Gail felt like she was watching the brunette undress.

"I miss you." She smiled at Gail, who was still unsure of the whole scenario.

"What about your somebody else?"

"We broke up. Besides, I'm hung up on you here."

That was more than enough for Gail to pull Holly into her, and Holly let out a little sigh as Gail kissed her hard and the two found themselves drowning in the tension that had lingered between the two for so long and they continued their passionate makeout session, till Gail broke the kiss yet again, groaning at her own actions.

"Wait, wait, Wait Oh my God, Wait."

Holly knew she was probably being pretty fast for someone who just broke up with a girlfriend of a year and a half, and she assumed Gail probably felt that everything was moving too fast.

"Ok, I know, we've gotta talk and, Can we talk tonight? I will make you dinner and I've got this incredible bottle of Barolo and -"

Gail looked at the rambling pathologist and grinned, while the pathologist realized she was now probably rambling. She grinned her lopsided grin at Gail, who was mesmerized and still considerably stunned by the turn of events.

"Ok then." Gail sighed, as Holly grin grew even wider.

"See you tonight, Officer" Holly said, as she exited the interrogation room, glee all over her face.


	8. Follow the rules

_A.N: Looks like I've got to use my imagination now. Yowsa!_

Gail stood staring at the front door of Holly's two-story house and frowned. Ever since Holly had sneaked her a kiss in the coat room, she was probably dying for the moment she could spend another intimate moment with her, but now that she actually could do so, Gail was ready to run. She wasn't lying when she told Holly she was a cat, a cat who preferred lingering in the branches to getting to the ground and feeling the grass. She was fifteen minutes early, something Gail was not accustomed to, her dates waited on her, Gail Peck waited for no one.

She knew she could just as easily go home and tell Holly she was forced to pull an extra shift, she could come up with completely plausible explanations as to why she couldn't make it to dinner, but something in her didn't want her to lie to Holly.

Not immediately anyway.

Gail could feel her instincts kick in, her instinct of running as far as fast as she could, and right now Gail would have literally run, but for some reason, she didn't want to do this to Holly. She knew the pathologist deserved better and she had to grow up and deal with problems without running from them.

_What was the problem here? Someone was genuinely interested in her? Someone had actually chosen her and now Gail had to live up to the expectation of being the chosen one?_ Not something new to Gail, but not something Gail was exactly fond off. There were times she wished the 'Peck' name didn't come with such high standards and expectations. Gail dreamt of the days she could step into work , boss around and catch bad guys without the overhanging 'Peck' tag.

_Was that what has happened here?_ Gail argued with herself. Holly didn't seem like the person who would hold Gail to high expectations, but Gail knew better than that. This was Holly Stewart, the woman who played baseball to cool off, rather than drink it off in a bar. Gail groaned and kicked the ground in front of her, all her confidence crashing and immediately deciding this was a bad idea. After a lingering gaze at the shut door, Gail decided to turn around and come back, maybe later and after she had a few drinks.

"Gail!"

Gail looked up to see Holly pulling into the driveway in her sedan and internally groaned. She had nowhere to run now.

"Hi Hol."

"You're early" Holly called back, stepping out of the car, slamming the door and walking towards the front door, while Gail stood rooted to the spot.

"Yeah, my shift ended early."

"Lacking the usual snark, I see."

"Well, normally pathologists don't come traipsing into the precinct, yelling at my inconsistencies."

"You almost sound offended."

"I am." Gail jibed, smiling at Holly's enthusiasm.

_Damn this woman._ Gail couldn't exactly place it, but she knew somewhere in her heart, this was why she fell in love with the brunette - the way she could make her smile when she felt absolutely miserable inside.  
"Are you alright?" Holly asked, seeing Gail hadn't moved an inch while she had opened the front door.

Gail looked at Holly, who looked stunning as usual, spite it being the end of the day. Staring at Holly, Gail realized that there was a reason she was in love with Holly. She knew somewhere in the back of the head, she should have been thinking off other things, perhaps Holly hadn't really gotten over Kate leaving, after all it had only been a week. But seeing Holly looking her hot-self oh-so-casually, making her smile like that, Gail knew Holly was someone she couldn't just let go, not like this.

_Now or never Peck._

"Yeah." Gail replied, stepping towards the door, while Holly sauntered in, leaving the door open and she went in to the kitchen while Gail slowly entered the house, looking around the interiors of the house, noticing it was different, a bit bare with the decorum, but quite comfy all the same.

"Kate took all her stuff I assume?" Gail called out to Holly, who seemed to be busy getting ready to cook dinner as she had promised.

"Yeah. I heard from her yesterday. She's quite good there."

"That's good. That's really good." Gail muttered, stepping in to the kitchen to see Holly had already stepped in to her domestic mode, worn her apron and gotten to cooking already. She stared at Holly, who seemed to be cooking _something_, that was all Gail could gather. She so badly wanted to talk to Holly, but words seemed to be failing her, all her knowledge of communicating vanishing.

"What?"

Gail looked up and noticed that Holly had stopped her work for a minute and was looking at her, head already tilted - questioning her silence.

"I don't know what to say really." Gail stammered out, surprised at her own lack of confidence. She tried mustering up some courage, she was Gail Peck, mortals bowed before her, she was better than this. Gail looked at Holly, whose apron read "Kiss the cook." and giggled a bit.

"I mean, What's going on here? I'm sorry I just" Gail burst out into nervous laughter, the silence really getting to her, while Holly looked back at the blonde with confusion on her face.

"What's supposed to be funny here, Gail?"

Gail glanced at Holly and stopped laughing and sobered up a bit; too see Holly looking at her with a look of concern.

"What is this Hol? I don't know. I've never known and I not exactly great at diffusing these kind of situations."

"Gail. This can be whatever you want it to be." Holly replied, in her calming tone and slowly stepping towards Gail, who was leaning against the counter and looking quite bewildered and lost.

"I don't know what I want this to be! I don't even know what I want to be!" Gail started rambling and Holly slowly moved to stand in front of Gail, placing her hands on either side of the blonde on the counter and smiled her lopsided grin. Gail noticing how close they were standing and her eyes widened realizing how Holly was pressing against her body.

"Don't you want to be with me, Gail?" Gail quivered at the way her name sounded on Holly's lips and now all she could think of was hearing her name from Holly's lips over and over again. This wasn't good. She knew she had to talk, communicate her fears, voice out her short-comings and warn this sweet brunette what exactly she was getting into.

She sighed and melted her body into Holly who was delicately licking the shell of her ear.

"I don't want to make a mistake Hol. And I'm sure I will."

"We're all human Gail. No one's expecting you to be a superhero." Holly whispered softly into her ear and Gail smiled, her breathing slowly quickening.

Holly pushed Gail back a bit and looked at her, giving Gail a little wink.

"You're not going to be the only one with mistakes, Gail. I'm just as bad at this, remember?

"Oh yeah, you're terrible, just look at you, Ms. Your-Report-is-Full- of- Inconsistencies." Gail quipped back, trying to find some of her snark.

Holly laughed and gave Gail a little smirk.

"In my defense, I've seen your reports, they could use some work."

"Oh really? " Gail looked at her with a little frown.

"Hmm Mmm. Wouldn't hurt if you could follow the directives for once" Holly started as she moved away from Gail to check on something that was cooking, but before she could, Gail pulled her by the arm and grabbed her by the waist. Smiling all the while, Gail brought her hands to Holly's face and gave Holly a soft, lingering kiss ,leaving the brunette considerably breathless and dazed. Holly glanced at Gail, her hair now slightly disheveled and Gail winked at Holly, nodding at her apron.

"Just following the directive there, Nerd." Gail chuckled as she walked over to the fridge to grab a beer.

_Communication wasn't exactly their strong point, but they both had a sense of what they wanted. Each other._


	9. Miscommunication

_A.N: A lot of people write about these two communicating. I like seeing them flounder a bit with their communication._

Gail and Holly had been on quite a few dates in the one month they had dated. These 'dates' were quite unconventional in comparison to the norm of going out for fancy dinners and parties. Their dates, on the other hand comprised of making out on Holly's couch, watching/yelling at the television or debating the most droll things in the world while eating takeout or anything Holly had cooked and then moving on to the bedroom. The two had a general idea of what they wanted from the relationship, but where the other person stood in the relationship was just as good a guess as anybody's.

Gail had once attempted the romantic _'help your girlfriend when she's cooking'_ gesture and had managed to turn that to the _'don't piss off your girlfriend with your glaring inability to be clean in the kitchen and burn food like it was paper'_ gesture and Gail had henceforth decided cooking wasn't really her forte. Holly, of course, on one night had dragged Gail to a tennis court, where Gail after managing to play all her serves as faults had decided the best position in tennis was the umpire's. After being beaten 6-1 by a rather hyperactive Holly, Gail gave up, took her place on the umpire's seat and watched as Holly played on with another guy who had needed an opponent. Gail who had been keen to take revenge on Holly for being defeated so badly, called faults on all of her serves and ended up annoying the brunette thoroughly. After Holly lost the game 7-5, Gail knew she would have a very angry pathologist on her trail.

"I can't believe you called out all those as faults! They were perfectly in!" Holly berated at Gail in the locker room where she was changing out of her sweaty clothes. Gail had already changed into a fresh set of clothes after the disastrous first match.

"Relax Sharapova, it's just a game." Gail chuckled from where she was, next to a rack of fresh towels, remembering Holly's looks of annoyance and rage as she called at faults at the brunette's impeccable serves.

"It's a game. Which I should have won! You were just being a sore loser!" Holly exclaimed, looking extremely pissed at Gail. She knew it was just a casual game, but the brunette had a penchant for winning, no matter how trivial a thing it was.

"Well, who'd have thought my girlfriend was an athletic nerd. I thought they were an extinct species." Gail jibed back before realizing what she had just said. Holly turned to gape at Gail, not believing what she just heard, all her anger fading away now and being replaced with surprise and a hint of joy. Gail, as usual, found herself unable to move, horror now covering her face. She had not seen that coming. She would have definitely chosen a better place than a stinky locker room of a random tennis stadium to tell Holly she considered her her girlfriend, but then again, her snarky ways had gotten the better of her. She looked at Holly with fear, half-expecting the pathologist to burst into flames or something.

Holly noticed Gail's emotion and had to choke down a laugh. Gail did look extremely like a cat caught out in the rain and knew this wasn't something Gail had thought about telling her exactly. Walking towards the blonde, Holly who was now in a sweaty bra and track pants, slowly bent as if to kiss Gail, trapping her to the spot in the process. "Well, I guess I have to remind you we aren't extinct." she softly sighed into Gail's ear and then grabbed a towel from behind Gail and swaggered away. Gail's heart rate had spiked to a new high as the brunette had whispered and she knew that she was definitely going to get some, hot, angry sex that night.

_With her girlfriend._

They both had learnt one lesson; this was pretty much how they communicated.

* * *

Gail after deciding enough was enough and living with two stinking boys wasn't going to cut it anymore, made up her mind to get her own place as she had managed to save up a bit of money (this surprised the blonde herself). This decision was taken about 2 weeks after the tennis court incident and Gail had casually mentioned it to Holly one morning over coffee at the donut place outside the precinct. Holly had thought of asking the blonde to move in, but seeing that Gail wasn't exactly at that position, she decided to lay the matter to rest. She even had managed to get a hold of a few apartments for lease which were nearby, and now the two were standing outside one of the apartments Holly had suggested would be good. What Gail didn't know was that the brunette had shortlisted the apartments to those which were both nearby her own house and the precinct.

Gail stared at the apartment with a wary eye. She couldn't help but feel that Holly was more interested in her getting a place than Gail herself. Gail didn't mind that, but at moment, Gail would have gladly preferred to lie on Holly's couch and doze off. Gail turned to look at Holly, who seemed more than normally excited for this particular apartment, perhaps because it was seemingly perfect for the blonde.

"Where do you get all this energy from?" Gail groaned as the brunette quite literally dragged her up 3 flights of stairs to reach the empty apartment. To that, Holly merely shook her head and pulled the key from her pocket. Gail had to admit that Holly was the adult of the two, Gail hadn't even known any realtors in the neighborhood while Holly seemed to know everybody from every profession there ever was.

Stepping into the bare apartment, Gail immediately took a liking to the place. It wasn't too big, but it was roomy enough. It had a little balcony that overlooked the city, a spacious living room, a bedroom just big enough for Gail and her stuff, another tiny room for odds and ends, complete with a tiny kitchen which Gail didn't mind much. Though the apartment was quite a bit dirty and the paint seemed to be falling off the walls, Gail genuinely loved the place. She could see herself living here, playing on her X-box with Holly, waking up with the brunette in the morning and sipping on a cup of coffee in the balcony. They had only seen a couple of apartments before, but Gail had in her head decided that this was the place.

Holly didn't bother asking Gail what she thought of the place, knowing pretty well what Gail's answer would be. As stoic as Gail usually was, nothing could hide the sheer glee on her face. Holly liked the place as well, though she found it a bit old for her liking.

"What do you think?" Gail asked, not stopping her inspection of the house, looking around the bare walls of the apartment.

"It's a bit gloomy. I guess a paint job would brighten up the place.." Holly started, but stopped short seeing Gail's look of horror.

"It's gloomy and it's perfect." Gail pouted back. Gail was quite sure even the Batcave would be too bright for her soul.

"Gail, the paint's falling off the walls. Everything else seems to be in order." Holly explained, peeling a bit of the paint off the wall with a finger.

"Fine. We can paint the walls. How about black?" Holly laughed at that, stepping to the balcony which gave quite a good view of the city.

"Sure. How about you pick up your next girlfriend at the hardware store while getting the black paint?" Holly jibed, looking down at the streets which were now lit up with streetlights and a few cars rushing here and there. Holly absolutely loved using the world girlfriend and brought up the term in every conversation she could. Gail didn't mind, in fact she was secretly pleased the brunette had understood where they stood now.

Gail frowned at Holly's remark and stepped on to the balcony behind the brunette, leaning into the back of the brunette, wrapping her hands tight around her waist and stood there hugging her from behind. Giving her neck a little kiss, Gail rested her head on Holly's shoulder.

"I'm not painting the house pink."

Holly laughed yet again as Gail pulled her closer into her frame.

"Why don't you rent out the apartment first before painting it." Holly said, slowly leaning back into Gail.

"Yeah, yeah. Would be a shame to paint it for somebody else." Gail muttered, taking in the moment. She was growing up now, living on her own and all the other things grownups did. The two stood like that for a moment, taking in the calm of the evening before going back inside to find the realtor to sign the various lease documents.

* * *

After Gail finished signing the documents, while Holly stood nearby overlooking the whole process, she grinned as the realtor handed her 3 sets of keys to the apartment. Without skipping a beat, she took a set of the keys and handed them over to Holly, who was surprised at the gesture.

She gave the blonde a quizzical look, to which Gail shrugged her shoulders.

"No pink paint, Nerd. Or I'll confiscate the keys."

_A.N. Apologies for any errors and could you do me a favor and review this for me? I don't know if my imagination makes up scenarios that are good? Thanks! _


End file.
